The butterfly effect: the phenomenon whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. In this case, it would be 3D Realms killing Duke Nukem Forever and Gearbox flapping its wings and bringing it back from the dead… living up to its name, huh?

It all started with Mikey Neumann, Creative Director at Gearbox, stating “Pre-emptive: No comment,” on his Twitter back in early August. That has, since then, evolved to publisher 2K Games tweeting images, such as this one, and this one, and also, this one as late as earlier today. And there’s only one thing we can all gather from that: Duke Nukem Forever is very much alive.

Finally announced at PAX today, with developer Gearbox and publisher 2K behind its wheel, Duke Nukem Forever will be out on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC complete with a single-player campaign and a cracking multiplayer portion. It’ll be out in 2011, so there’s still some of waiting to do, but that’s the most official date we’ve had for the last 12 years.

The game was demoed and available for a hands-on moment, none of which could be filmed due to rating restrictions. However, from the looks of it, not only will Duke be breaking jaws with his bare hands, he’ll run around a drenched football field shooting down giants, crushing aliens with a monster truck and even pick up a brush and paint, just because he can. Oh, and pee in a urinal, which for Duke, is a very civilized thing to do.

“Aliens come and say they’re going to be our friends, and Duke knows this isn’t going to work out,” revealed Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford of the plot.

Duke will never die, and if you even thought for a second that he would, get ready to get your ass kicked by his balls of steel. Or something.

http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/2010/09/03/duke-nukem-forever-resurrected-out-in-2011/

Posted: Sep 04, 2010 1:22 am